Elastic fabric having folded thin elastic ribbon warp ends



p 2, 9 J. c. HARVEY 3,464,46

ELASTLYC FABRIC HAVING FOLDED THIN ELASTIC RIBBON WARP ENDS Filed Dec. 29, 1967 INVENTOR. JOHN C. HARVEY ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,464,460 ELASTIC FABRIC HAVING FOLDED THIN ELASTIC RIBBON WARP ENDS John C. Harvey, Easthampton, Mass., assignor to J. P. Stevens 8: Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 694,472 Int. Cl. D03d 15/08; D02g 3/32, 3/06 U.S. Cl. 139-422 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An elastic fabric is woven with a smaller number of elastic warp threads in the form of very thin ribbons which are folded over once, which form a hollow cylinder by passing through eyes as the warp ends are fed to the shed. The ribbons are quite wide but very thin, and when folded once by passing through eyes and/ or the eyes of their respective heddles, they are immune to nicking or cutting by a needle when the fabric is sewn.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Elastic fabrics are well known, particularly for narrow fabrics, and the elastic threads are usually in the form of warp ends. These threads are quite small, and whether they are covered or bare can easily be nicked or cut by a needle when the fabric is sewn. In this case the thread may be cut through or may be sufficiently nicked so that after repeated stretching it parts and causes an ugly spot in the fabric.

It has been proposed to use somewhat broader rubber warp threads, but with thickness comparable to their width and are also easily nicked or cut. It has also been proposed in the Chisholm Patent 1,811,843 to have a thick heavy rubber ribbon as an occasional warp end which is bound only at a few spots so that it unfolds and sticks above the plane of the weave to form a projecting element which increases friction and is useful in certain fabrics which are to be employed where greater friction is needed. This bulky projection beyond the plane of the fabric is only used where the additional friction makes its other features worth tolerating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention uses relatively wide elastic warp ribbons which are extremely thin and which are folded by passing through an eye or the eye of their respective heddles. The thin ribbon is woven normally and is wide enough and thin enough so that even when pierced by a needle in sewing, nicking or cutting of the warp end does not take place. Thus the advantage of needleproofness is obtained without undesirable projection of rubber above the plane of the fabric. In general, the number of folded ribbons used as elastic warp ends is considerably smaller than the number of small rubber warp ends in the more usual form of fabric, although the present invention is in no sense limited to the use of any particular number of elastic warp ends. When a relatively smaller number of ends are used, it is possible to produce fancy weaves where there are textile threads as warp ends between the folded rubber ribbons, and the picks lock the textile thread in a tighter weave between the folded rubber ribbon warp ends. When such a fabric is woven with the rubber warp ends stretched and allowed to relax, interesting shirred effects can be produced. The present invention is not limited to such special designs, and an ordinary weave may be employed. However, it is an advantage of the invention that it lends itself readily to such special patterns, which are not practical with the finer rubber warp ends in the customary elastic fabrics.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the stretched fabric during weaving, and

FIG. 2 shows the same fabric after relaxing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawings show a limited number of elastic warp ends 1, which are in the form of thin rubber ribbons folded over once into an essentially U fold in which each of the edges of the ribbon retains its integrity and in which each edge is actually physically separated from the other. The particular fold in the thin rubber ribbon is achieved by passing same through an eye 2, of suitable shape and dimension, of a heddle 3. Between the elastic warp ends are a number of textile warp ends 4.

FIG. 1 shows the weaving in the stretched condition with wefts weaving plain with the textile warp ends and only at separated picks, for example after every group of four, across the folded rubber elastic warp ends 1. In the weave shown, this is a double pick with two weft threads crossing each elastic warp end.

In FIG. 2 the fabric is shown relaxed and the plain woven textile warp threads which form the areas 5 are bowed up as the rubber warp ends contract and produce a shirred effect.

It is, of course, possible to weave with a plain unshirred weave including the rubber warp ends, or any other desired pattern. The drawings show the versatility of the present invention in producing specialty patterns, which for many purposes are very attractive. It will be noted that when a shirred effect is produced as described in the drawings, it is not necessary to cover the folded rubber elastic warp ends as the raised plain woven textile portions prevent extensive contact of bare rubber with the human skin when the fabric is used, as is often the case, for brassiere straps or other uses in which one side of the fabric contacts the skin of the wearer.

The illustrated fabric is a single-layer weave, but it is, of course, possible to produce a multi-layer weave, for example a tubular weave stitched together by occasional warp ends, and in this case one layer can be woven with textile warp ends only and the other one including the rubber elastic warp ends. This permits a fabric in which one side is very much softer, and for some purposes this is considered preferable, giving a desirable feel to the human skin when it touches the wearer.

The present invention can be used with a large number of patterns and with practically any of the well known textile threads, such as, for example, cotton, synthetic threads, and the like. The folded thin ribbon elastic warp threads need not be of rubber, as any other suitable elastomer, such as spandex, can be employed.

Usually the fabric of the present invention utilizes only one kind of elastic warp ends, but it is possible to mix the folded ribbon ends with some parallel round elastic warp ends to produce a different design. Normally, however, this is not desired as the ordinary elastic warp ends are then subject to nicking or cutting when the fabric is sewed. However, where this problem is not encountered or is tolerated in order to obtain the new design, such composite fabrics are not excluded. They do not, however, constitute the preferred modification of the present invention which uses only elastic warp ends of folded thin ribbon form.

I claim:

1. An elastic fabric comprising spaced elastic warp threads, each formed of an essentially U folded, very thin ribbon, each of the edges of the folded ribbon retaining its integrity and being physically separate, the

3 elastic warp threads being interspersed with textile warp threads.

2. A fabric according to claim 1 in a relaxed state, the length of the folded ribbon elastic warp threads being shorter than the textile warp threads, whereby a Shirred effect is produced.

3. In a method of weaving a fabric having elastic warp threads, spaced and interspersed with non-elastic textile warp threads, the improvement which comprises passing thin, fiat, elastic ribbons through shaped eyes in the shedding area whereby each thin elastic ribbon is folded to produce a folded elastic warp thread of a substantially U shape with two free edges and weaving a fabric including the spaced folded elastic warp threads after they have passed through the eyes.

4. A method according to claim 3 in which the folded elastic ribbon warp threads are stretched during the Weaving operation, whereby on relaxation the fabric has a shirred appearance.

References Cited HENRY C. JAUDIN, Primary Examiner 

